Announcement:

The formation of the

Consortium of Youth Outreach

and Prevention Services (CYOPS)

"Cum venia, et deo juvante, et bona officia, dirigo ex malo bonum". Motto of the youth gang worker.

© Copyright, 2010, NGCRC.

WHAT IS CYOPS?

            The NGCRC, now celebrating 20 years of service, is pleased to announce the formation of the Consortium of Youth Outreach and Prevention Services (CYOPS). CYOPS is a national organization with the mission to uphold the dignity and standards of the profession. CYOPS seeks to assist existing programs through training and networking resources as well as to help new gang prevention and intervention programs get started.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF CYOPS?

            The primary goals of CYOPS are as follows:

            • Provide training that is custom-tailored to meet the needs of administrators, supervisors, and workers in programs providing gang prevention/intervention services.

            • Increase networking between program staff throughout America and abroad; resulting in the sharing of ideas, while improving the effectiveness of gang prevention/intervention services.

            • Enable program staff to benefit from the cross-fertilization of ideas for improving the profession of gang outreach, prevention, and intervention services; increasing the overall competency level in this specialized field.

            • Provide confidential consulting services in matters related to program evaluation and assessment.

            • Strengthen the capacity and quality of existing programs, while encouraging new startups nationally and world wide within communities facing gang problems.

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF CYOPS?

             The mission of CYOPS is to improve the quality and effectiveness of gang outreach, prevention, and intervention services, and uphold the dignity and standards of the profession world wide.

WHY HAS THE NGCRC DECIDED TO START THIS ORGANIZATION?

              Far too many social service programs for at-risk youths are “going under” in these tough economic times. Yet the need for youth intervention programs and services is greater than ever before. Today, gang prevention and intervention programs must compete with many other worthy causes to obtain support from foundations and local government funding sources.

            Someone must speak for the thousands of people who work in gang prevention, intervention and outreach today. The NGCRC has 20 years of experience in the field of prevention and intervention. (These reports are available at www.ngcrc.com: see Project GANGPINT --- a study of gang prevention and gang intervention issues; see Project GANGFACT --- the single largest study of gang members ever conducted, providing massive baseline information for a needs assessment on gang member social capital issues.)

WHAT IS THE NGCRC's CAPABILITY FOR THIS WORK?

            To some extent, the mission of the NGCRC has always overlapped with this work. The formation of CYOPS formalizes what we have been doing for some time. Helping programs to not just survive, but to thrive, we provide training and consultation. We provide recognition where it is earned. We created the Frederic Milton Thrasher Award series for leadership in gang prevention, for superior service in gang intervention, for superior accomplishments in gang prevention/intervention; and we created the Exemplary Program Award. (Google "Thrasher Award" and see the wide variety of persons across America and abroad who have received this recognition).

            The NGCRC has been able to write letters of support for programs over the years that have been helpful in their program development efforts. The NGCRC has been able to line up consulting expertise for program evaluation design and program evaluation research purposes. Occasionally, this service has been provided in conjunction with the Annual Gang Training Certification Program, now in its 13th year as a regular, international event.

            The NGCRC can provide something invaluable to gang programs: positive publicity. The NGCRC has an extensive publishing organizational apparatus: we publish the Journal of Gang Research, now in its 17th year as an international professional quarterly publication. The NGCRC also publishes The Gang Specialist, a free newspaper mailed to thousands of gang specialists and justice professionals every year. And, of course, the NGCRC publishes a number of reference works in print and electronic form about gangs and gang problems.

HOW WILL CYOPS MEMBERSHIP BENEFIT YOU?

             Here are ten examples.

            Example #1: CYOPS can help you with screening and referring evaluation expertise for your program. For example, you get a grant to implement a special program feature, but there is a condition that a certain percentage of the budget be spent on program evaluation research. Can you get away with spending less? Quite possibly is what the NGCRC says. There are many ways to enlist the help of real, genuine gang scholars: people who have Psy.D., Ph.D., and D.Crim. Degrees, who are published professionals, who can do the kind of qualitative or quantitative research you need. A common way to waste evaluation money is to hire a generalist from the social sciences, someone who is not “up to snuff” on the gang literature.

            The NGCRC advantage is that we already work with these professionals — the best of the best, they are published in our journal, the official publication of the NGCRC — the Journal of Gang Research. We also maintain a large professional group of consultants who are the reviewing editors for the Journal of Gang Research. And there is an equal or larger number of professionals with terminal degrees who work with the NGCRC in a training capacity, you will find their names in the curriculum of the NGCRC's annual training conference. The NGCRC is not saying we can get you free or probono evaluation services, but we can get you the names and numbers of people who might be able to work with you, and give you more fiscal options. A cost saving opportunity you will learn through the NGCRC social network, is that if your program networks with gang specialists from academia, there is another advantage: the availability of interns.

            The NGCRC can help you identify local gang experts from academia in your area. You might also find that these university faculty members are great additions for purposes of “board development”.

            Example #2: What are you currently doing for staff development to ensure that your staff who deal with gangs and gang members are equipped with the best information they can get? Do you have a staff library of gang reference materials? You will have one if you join CYOPS --- publications are provided free of charge. All members of CYOPS receive a complimentary one year subscription to the Journal of Gang Research, itself a $150 value. For example, all you have to do to create an instant moral boosting staff development mechanism is to take the copies of the Journal of Gang Research (JGR), when they arrive at your address, attach a “cover distribution check off list” which has the names of the staff, date they received the JGR issue and date they transmitted it to the next staff person on the distribution list. You will have better, more informed staff.

            Example #3: As a CYOPS member you gain an important voice because you will work with other members of the organization to establish national standards for excellence in the profession. Standards of performance and excellence --- what is and what is not acceptable, what is considered "state of the art", what is "general accepted practice" and what is considered "best practices". The standards will over time, probably be voted upon by members of CYOPS to establish national standards on what should be the ideal typical gang prevention or intervention program. If you are left out of the process, you risk becoming marginal to the emerging national and international standards. Members of CYOPS will vote in a formal meeting at the NGCRC Annual Gang Training Conference each year.

            Example #4: Evaluation reports. Often you have to do your own internal evaluation research on needs assessment (statistical and qualitative descriptions of the kinds of problems the clients have when they enter your program), process evaluations (how many receive and complete which segment of the service delivery system, and the perceptions of efficacy and efficiency of the services delivered --- even the issue of cost-effectiveness), and outcome evaluations (surveys of client impact, employment tenure, recidivism issues, impact on other subsystems in your community, etc). It might be possible for you to benefit from the professional advice of known evaluation research experts at the NGCRC. Towards that end, the NGCRC has offered technical assistance (over the phone or internet) each year as another advantage of membership in CYOPS. We might be able to help you with issues of instrumentation (creating the surveys and data collection instruments, tests, etc), and analysis issues as well. A program that has evaluation research will be stronger and more competitive. CYOPS will give you options you did not have before when it comes to evaluation research. And the strength of that option is having an independent third party, or even collaborative evaluation research (using both internal and external resources), that can speak to evaluation issues --- much better than internal or in-house evaluation research alone.

            Example #5: The NGCRC website attracts half a million visitors. The NGCRC mails out about 100,000 copies of The Gang Specialist every year. The NGCRC has much public exposure and fields a large number of media inquiries from the print and electronic media every year. One thing that is invaluable for a gang prevention/intervention program is “positive media coverage”. CYOPS will maintain a list of members willing to act as expert sources on gang issues for journalists in television, radio, newspapers, or documentary producers. This is something the NGCRC also has experience with, because the NGCRC has its own media. So if you join CYOPS and if you want mass media coverage, the NGCRC will have your name and point of contact on file in the media contact room: ready to make a referral on your behalf. No matter what the article or story is about, the NGCRC provides a viewpoint and can then say "would you like to have the advantage of speaking with someone who works in a gang prevention/intervention program who deals with these kind of gang members on an daily basis --- programs that are trying to stop and prevent gang violence"......it is reasonable to believe that some journalists will take the lead and contact CYOPS members and that positive media coverage may result from this new policy and procedure. How much is that worth? Good media coverage is priceless. CYOPS cannot guarantee anyone media coverage, we can keep you in mind in response to media inquiries we receive. See question #21 in the CYOPS membership form to sign up for this potential benefit.

            Example #6: The founding members of CYOPS will all receive a special certificate attesting to their role in this historic event, it will be optional to have either the name of the program itself, or an individual name used in this regards to providing recognition. You will be proud to frame your CYOPS certificate and display it in the lobby of your office.

            Example #7: Members receive their official program membership certificate, good for the period of membership they have. This is the kind of thing you want to put in a high quality frame and put out in the lobby of your office for all to see. There are also associate members and individual members, who get similar high-quality certificates.

            Example #8: Representation on the NGCRC/CYOPS website. Let CYOPS help you build your online presence. As a CYOPS member, your name and program contact information will be listed at the official CYOPS website. If there are donors and volunteers looking for gang prevention programs, they will have a one stop shopping center: the CYOPS website. As a member of CYOPS, you will be listed there, along with contact information, and other information advertising your program. The CYOPS website can provide links to your website to boost your traffic.

            Example #9: The National Directory of Gang Prevention/Intervention Programs. The NGCRC has already done the research here. We have been working with some of these over the years anyhow. So, basically until the NGCRC did the research to construct a National Directory, none existed. Sure, you could find local listings, and small listings of programs who were all on the same funding stream (e.g., OJJDP grantees). But that does not even come close to describing the real world of gang programs today. There really are hundreds of such programs. Most are not getting federal money. But when the CYOPS members come to Chicago for annual gang training, they will probably learn more about how to win contracts, how to improve their grantsmanship skills and grantwriting skills, because that has long been a feature of NGCRC training. This National Directory is really proprietary information, it will list the CYOPS members prominently in the front: and in the back, the non-CYOPS programs. The program listings are in alphabetical order by the name of the program.

            Example 10: CYOPS members get a “affiliate rate discount” on the cost of professional gang specialist training at the NGCRC training conferences. For example, CYOPS members will be paying only a portion of the actual cost of conference registration, the CYOPS registration fees are subsidized by the NGCRC, thus they are only a fraction of the actual cost.

WHAT ARE THE FOUR CATEGORIES OF MEMBERSHIP AND WHAT DO THEY GET FROM CYOPS?

            Membership in CYOPS is open to all private sector and public sector, administrators, managers, supervisors, and their staff from existing programs providing direct services in the area of gang outreach, prevention, and intervention; as well as startups. CYOPS welcomes trainers, caseworkers, outreach workers, gang counselors, school personnel, SRO's, private sector experts (psychologists and others providing gang exit counseling and hospital outpatient staff working on gang issues, such as tattoo removal), those in academia and elsewhere specializing in gang prevention/intervention issues.

            Full members are those who operate formal programs involving direct service delivery to real clients who consist of youths and others at-risk; such human services being delivered by paid full-time staff members employed by the program. A further requirement to be a full member is that the program must have been up and running for a minimum of one full year. Full members receive all benefits offered, including two free hours of consulting and three discounted training slots each year.

            Associate members can be those who operate formal programs involving direct service delivery to youths and others at-risk, who have paid full-time staff members and/or who operate primarily with the use of volunteers. Associate members also include those who are involved in brand new programs, just getting started, and who are just now going through the steps of formalization. New programs less than 12 months old, which provide direct services and which have full-time staff, would join as an associate member. Associate members receive one free hour of consulting and two discounted training slots each year.

            The individual members category includes those who are joining that represent their self and/or their business. For example, a business that sells "gang intervention education" training materials and/ or a training system and the proprietary materials needed to implement the program. Individual members are also scholars and members of academia, "gang experts" at intervention/prevention, or individuals who work in a gang program. Individual members do not receive consulting services and do not vote in CYOPS elections and referendums.

            We recognize the need to provide a nurturing environment for students who could be future leaders in this field, and to provide a mechanism for involving those who are financially distressed (unemployed, underemployed, etc) who work in gang outreach/prevention/intervention. The "Student/Unemployed" membership category is also available. This category of membership receives the Journal of Gang Research, they get a copy of and are listed in the National Directory, they get one (1) registration discount (50% off) for NGCRC training, but it is a non-voting category of membership. In otherwords, in the list of benefits (see the page entitled The Benefits and Costs Associated with Joining CYOPS by the Four Levels of Membership) the benefits #1 through #4, #7, and #9 are not provided in this category of membership.

WHEN IS THE FIRST CYOPS MEETING BEING HELD?

            The first organizational meeting of CYOPS is being held during the NGCRC's August 16-18, 2010 Gang Training Conference being held in Chicago, IL. You are invited to this exciting meeting as a founder of the CYOPS organization. For more information about the conference, or to get a registration form to attend the conference, visit the NGCRC website --- www.ngcrc.com.

            If you are completing the Registration Form to attend the NGCRC’s August 16-18, 2010 Training Conference, remember to mark on the "DISCOUNT CODE" section that you are a CYOPS member and are entitled to a 50% discount off the cost of the registration fee for the conference. "CYOPS 50% off" is your discount code.

WHO DO WE CALL IF WE HAVE QUESTIONS?

            Call the NGCRC directly at (708) 258-9111 if you have any questions about CYOPS or the August 16-18, 2010 Gang Training Conference being held in Chicago.

                          The Benefits and Costs Associated with Joining CYOPS

                                  by the Four Levels of Membership:

                                                                        THE FOUR CYOPS MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES

                                                                        Full                 Associate        Individual       Student

                                                                        Member          Member          Member        Member

1. Issued the “Founding Member”

     Certificate?                                                    Yes                 Yes                 Yes                 No

    (If joining before June 30, 2010.)

2. Issued a CYOPS Membership

     Certificate?                                                    Yes                 Yes                 Yes                 No

    (Recognizing you/your program)

3. Recognition at the NGCRC and

     CYOPS website?                                        Yes                 Yes                 Yes                 No

    (Positive exposure for your program.)

4. Referrals to mass media contacts?

    (If you want this service,

    See question #21

     On the CYOPS Membership

    Application form.)                                          Yes                 Yes                 Yes                 No

5. Receive a full year ($150 value)                      Yes                 Yes                 Yes                 Yes

    Subscription to the Journal of                     (Value             (Value             (Value             (Value

    Gang Research?                                          $150)              $150)              $150)              $150)

6. Receive a copy of and be listed

    Prominently inside of the

    National Directory of Gang

    Prevention/Intervention Programs?                Yes                 Yes                 Yes                 Yes

7. Receive free consulting hours with the

      NGCRC Via phone/internet/skype,

      Etc?                                                         2 hours             1 hour             None               None

        (This value consists of a Ph.D. level gang expert.

        Cannot roll over. Valid during the year of

       Membership period covered.)

8. Subsidized “affiliate rate” for

     Certification training registration

     Costs at the NGCRC Conference?

            Number of Registrations:                      3                      2                      1                     1

            Staff rate Discount:                              50%                50%                50%                50%

Number of registrations is the number

of registrations subsidized by the                      (Value             (Value             (Value             (Value

NGCRC (a huge cost savings).                       $1200)             $800)              $400)              $400)

     Valid during the year of

      Membership period covered.

9. Voting power at the Annual CYOPS

     Meetings?                                                   Yes                 Yes                 No                   No

10. Cost to join CYOPS for one year?          $1800              $1400              $750                $500

CYOPS Membership Application Form

Today’s date:______________ Check the category of membership you are applying for:

____Full Member ____Associate Member ____Individual Member ____Student/Unemployed

PART A: Required Information

1. What is the full name of your program: (please type or print very neatly)

__________________________________________________________________________

2a. Full name of the executive director, president or CEO for your program:

__________________________________________________________________________

2b. What is the title for this person: (President, Executive Director, CEO, etc)

__________________________________________________________________________

2c. Is this going to be the name for the one contact person that will be listed at the CYOPS website and in the CYOPS Printed Directory? ____Yes ____No

2d. If question “2c” is no, then please designate here, who will be the contact person that will be listed at the CYOPS website and in the CYOPS Printed Directory: (provide their name and title here, otherwise leave blank)

3. What is the main address that your program wants to use for the CYOPS directory?

Street address:______________________________________________________________

City, state, zip:______________________________________________________________

4. What is the telephone number you want to have listed at the CYOPS directory?

5. What is the fax number you want to have listed at the CYOPS directory?

6. What is the email for the contact person you want to have listed at the CYOPS directory?

7. If applying for full mem bership or associate level membership, indicate the name of the person representing your program who will be allowed to vote at annual meetings of CYOPS in the representation of your program. (You can put TBA, To Be Announced, and provide this data later)

_________________________________________________________________________

 PAYMENT METHOD: Check one.

 ____Payment enclosed in check or money order made payable to “National Gang Crime Research Center”

_____VISA, MasterCard, American Express or Discover (Circle one).

Card number:_______________________________________________________________________

Expiration date: Month_______________________ Year:____________________________________

Name on card: (printed):______________________________________________________________

Your Signature:_____________________________________________________________________

Amount you authorize to charge (total):__$________________________________________________

Billing Address for the card holder(Printed):

(street address)____________________________________________________________________

Zip Code for the Billing Address:_______________________________________________________

Call (708) 258-9111 if you need the NGCRC F.E.I.N. (tax number) or our Merchant Number for credit card payments. Also, call (708) 258-9111 if you want to provide credit card info by verbal rather than written transmission.

Mail this application with payment to: CYOPS, c/o The NGCRC, PO Box 990, Peotone, IL 60468-0990.

PART B: Optional Information

            The information in Part B is data that would be used to provide an enhanced description of your program in the National Directory and at the CYOPS Website. Part B information is optional. It is not required. This is a feature for “highlighting” programs, giving them recognition. Although, it is not mandatory, it is a way for you to toot your own horn.

8. Is your program tax exempt? ____Yes ____No

9. Are you able to issue tax deductible donation receipts (this will be indicated if you want to be listed as a program that would consider donations in goods, materials, cash, property at the NGCRC/CYOPS website)? _____Yes ____No

10. Does your program want to be listed as a program that would welcome donations in terms of cash, goods, property, etc, at the CYOPS website where we try to promote positive exposure for your program? ____Yes _____No

11. Is your program a part of a larger agency or umbrella organization? ____Yes ___No

12. Should we list that larger or parent organizational entity as part of the official full address for your  program? _____Yes ____No

13. How long, in years, has your program been operating under the same name that it has now?  _____Years

14. On average, how many clients does your program see each year? _______ clients

15a. How many full-time staff are employed by your program currently? _______staff

15b. How many part-time staff are employed by your program currently? _______staff

15c. How many unpaid volunteers are working at your program currently?______volunteers

15d. Do you want us to list this information with your listing at the CYOPS website? ___Yes ___No

16. What is the internet IP address for your program website you want to have listed at the CYOPS website?____www.________________________________________________________________

17. Can you provide a brief (just one or two sentences) description of what kinds of services your program provides?________________________________________________________________________

18a. How many of your employees hold Certification as trained gang specialists in gang intervention or gang prevention skills, or gang counseling techniques, that is, how many have received these types of certificates of training from the NGCRC?

            ______ members of our staff currently hold certification in at least one area from the NGCRC, and are therefore certified gang specialists in their designated area of expertise.

18b. Please provide their names here so that the NGCRC can verify this information:

__________________________________________________________________________

(use additional paper if necessary)

18c. Do you want us to list the areas of expertise that your staff are certified in by the NGCRC?

            ___Yes ___No

19. Another way to highlight and provide positive recognition for your program is to report the cumulative number of college degrees represented in your staff population. If you want to have this included at the CYOPS website, complete this section. You are not reporting names, you are just summarizing facts about staff members (paid or volunteers).

            _____of our staff have Ph.D. or doctorate level terminal degrees

            _____of our staff have Master’s degrees

            _____of our staff have Bachelor degrees

            _____of our staff have Associate degrees

             ____ of our staff have some college training

             Do you want to add any category (e.g., trade school, etc), if yes do so here:

19a. Do you issue regular annual reports? ____No ____Yes

19b. Do you want to be able to do so? The NGCRC is interested in establishing "workshops" where real work is done, more like "work lab for writing your most recent annual report" or "work lab for writing your current annual report". If you think you would be interested in this specialized training, indicate here:

___Not interested ____Yes I would be interested or I could send someone to that workshop for our program

20. Are there any specific areas of help or need (outside of money of course) where the NGCRC and CYOPS might be able to help you and your program? Try to be as detailed as possible here, because we are going to develop a full curriculum to respond to the needs of CYOPS members based on this information. In other words, what problems and obstacles do you face? Please attach separate paper to this application.

21. Do you want to receive referrals from the mass media, including newspaper reporters, when such media contacts arise for the NGCRC? _____Yes ____No